Lesson Plan #1

Central Focus The central focus of this lesson will be musicality. Illinois State Content Standards 25.A.4: Analyze and evaluate the effective use of elements, principles and expressive qualities in a composition/performance in dance, drama, music and visual arts. 26B: Apply skills and knowledge necessary to create and perform in one or more of the arts. Specific Objectives By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to: Identify common dynamic markings such as p, mp, mf, f, and crescendos and decrescendos. Define and demonstrate sfz, sfzp, subito p/f, and sotto voce Create and implement a dynamic plan for a 4-6 measure excerpt of Hes Gone Away by Ron Nelson within their section. Describe the significance of dynamic markings and contrast in musical works. Prior Knowledge required Notes and Rhythms of Hes Gone Away by Ron Nelson. Common dynamic markings such as p, mp, mf, f, crescendo, and decrescendo. Academic Language Demands Vocabulary: common dynamic markings such as p, mp, mf, f, crescendo, decrescendo. Sfz- Sforzando - loud, strong, forceful Sfzp- Sforzando piano - loud, strong forceful, then immediately afterward, quiet Subito - suddenly, i.e. suddenly piano or suddenly forte Sotto voce - underneath the breath, in a hushed tone. Language Function: Students will need to describe the significance of dynamic markings and dynamic contrast in order to achieve the central focus of the lesson. Discourse: Students will use discourse to construct and further knowledge of the central focus and lesson objectives. Materials Whiteboard and whiteboard marker, Hes Gone Away by Ron Nelson, Hes Gone Away dynamic plan worksheets, Pencils, Elmo projector.

Est. Time 10 min.

Process Warm ups Stretching Breathing Hum on Nnn 5-4-3-2-1 Be Bay/Ba Bo 5-4-3-2-1 Busy Bee 5432123454321 Hng-ahhh 5 54321 Hello I love You goodbye 1 3 5 8 5 3 1 Kee ee kee eh kee ah 5 8 5 8 5 8 5 3 1 Take out Hes Gone Away. Lets perform the second section once straight through, no stopping, just to see where were at. Perform section once through, conducting. Do not conduct or remind about dynamics. Only stop to start over if the singers are completely lost.

Assessment (Formal)

Teacher observation of note/rhythm accuracy

Est. Time 2

Process What did you think of that performance? Was it good? What was good about it? Allow students to respond to question commenting on strengths. Possible response may be diction and vowel blend, accuracy of notes and rhythms, etc. What was not good about that performance? What was it missing? Possible response may be consonant diction and dynamics. From diction response lead into: In music, what is a dynamic? (A volume level.) What about crescendo and decrescendo, are those dynamics? (Yes) What kind of dynamics are used in Hes Gone Away? (mp, f, cresc., decresc.) Write student responses on the white board What other dynamic markings do you know? (pp, mp, mf, ff,) Write these in on the board as well. What about these markings? Fill in markings they might not know (i.e. sfz, sfzp, subito, sotto voce,) on the board. What in any of these dynamics markings looks familiar? (The F of sfz and the FP of sfzp. They might recognize voce as meaning voice) Sfz stands for sforzando. Write sforzando in full next to sfz on the board. Is there anything in the word sforzando that sounds familiar? (For sounds like forte.) What word in English does it remind you of? (Force) Sforzando means forcefully. And it also implies a sudden forcefulness. So lets apply this. Have a C major ascending scale written on the white board. Draw an sfz above Fa. Lets do this major scale on solfege with the sfz on fa. And when you get to Fa, I want you to do a force motion with your hand. What should we do? (Punch.) Yes lets punch on Fa, but make sure youre only punching the air, and not another human being. Perform the scale as prescribed. Check that the students are performing the dynamic marking. Repeat this process with sfzp, subito, and sotto voce. Do the scale with each dynamic marking alone, then end by finally mixing all of these dynamics in the same scale. Why are there so many different dynamic markings? Why dont we just use piano and forte? Allow for student responses. What makes a composer use all these different dynamics? Allow for student response. Are dynamics ever just about volume? Or are they meant to represent something else? Allow for student response. Dynamics can represent a thought or an emotion. They can be used to tell a story! Were going to do an activity now where you get to create a story with dynamics. Youre going to group up with the other girls in your section. Ill give you one sheet of paper that has a section of Hes Gone Away on it. This section has no dynamics on it. As a group, youre going to create a dynamic plan for your section. Your plan needs to include at least 3 dynamics, one of which must be sfz,

Assessment (Formal) Informal questioning*

Observe accuracy of execution of dynamics^

Est. Time

Process ... After about a minute, well project your dynamic plan and perform it, and then you as a section will have tell us your story and let us know if the way it sounded matched up with the story you created.

Assessment (Formal)

2 6

Allow the students one to two minutes to work in their group. Project each dynamic plan using the Elmo projector and perform each section with the student-created dynamic plans, one at a time. Check to see that the students are performing the dynamics prescribed in the plan, or if they are just performing at random levels. The section that created the dynamic plan will assess the ensemble on the accuracy of the execution. What did the use of these different dynamics do to change the feeling of the song? DId the song become completely different with each dynamic plan, or did it just change a little tiny bit? Thank you so much for your creativity. I was so impressed by what you produced! Lets try to do this section now, but lets try these dynamics: Project the dynamic plan that I have created using the Elmo. Tell the students the markings as well. Perform the section with dynamics. Stop and reinforce dynamics as necessary. Great work today! I loved to see your creative side. I cant wait to build on this tomorrow! Have a great day! Observe the accuracy of execution of dynamics Dynamic plan worksheet

Observe the accuracy of execution of dynamics

Accommodations: For my students with an IEP: My two students with IEPs in this class need to have instructions simplified or paraphrased in order to be successful. In order to accommodate them, I have simplified my instructions throughout the entire lesson. I will also provide instruction for them in multiple ways, such as verbally explaining instructions, and providing instructions in print (writing dynamics on the board, in the dynamic plan worksheet, having dynamics projected on the screen, and eventually written in their own music.) For my exceptional music students: There are opportunities in this lesson for students who have more skill in music to be challenged. They have the opportunity to answer higher level questions as to the meaning of possibly unknown dynamic markings. For learners of different modalities: My instruction uses different methods which include different learning modalities. Visual learners will benefit from seeing things written on the board and projected on a screen. Aural learners will benefit from my verbal directions and cues. Kinesthetic learners will benefit from including motions with their dynamics. Read/Write learners will benefit from writing in their dynamics in their music.

Lesson Plan #2
Central Focus The central focus of this lesson will be musicality. Illinois State Content Standards 25.A.4: Analyze and evaluate the effective use of elements, principles and expressive qualities in a composition/performance in dance, drama, music and visual arts. 26B: Apply skills and knowledge necessary to create and perform in one or more of the arts. Specific Objectives By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to: Define phrase. Define point of arrival. VIsually identify various points of arrival within Hes Gone Away by Ron Nelson. Demonstrate appropriate phrasing and emphasis within Hes Gone Away by Ron Nelson. Prior Knowledge required Notes and Rhythms of Hes Gone Away by Ron Nelson. Dynamic markings as discussed in the previous lesson. Academic Language Demands Vocabulary: Phrase - a musical thought/sentence Point of Arrival - the height/peak/most important part of a musical phrase Language Function: Students will need to describe phrasing and points of arrival in order to achieve the central focus of the lesson. Discourse: Students will use discourse to construct and further knowledge of the central focus and lesson objectives. Materials Whiteboard and whiteboard marker, Hes Gone Away by Ron Nelson, Pencils Est. Time 8 min. Process Warm ups Stretching Breathing Hum on Nnn 5-4-3-2-1 Hng-ahhh 5 54321 Who are you? 5 4 3 2 1 Hello I love You goodbye 1 3 5 8 5 3 1 Who can remind me what we worked on yesterday? (Dynamics.) And we learned that dynamics are way more than volume, right? What else do dynamics represent? (Thoughts, emotions, stories.) Lets perform Hes Gone Away with the dynamics we wrote in yesterday. Really tell me a story this time. Perform second section once through. Conduct and remind about dynamics. Only stop if the students are really lost. Informal questioning * Assessment (Formal)

Est. Time 2

Process What comes to mind when you hear the word phrase? Allow for student response. What is a musical phrase? Allow for student response. If no close definition, provide: A phrase is a kind of musical thought or sentence. So if a phrase is a musical thought, what is phrasing? Allow for student response. (The process of constructing various musical thoughts into one larger idea.) Just like when were talking, a musical phrase has a point to it. But if musical phrases dont really have a point, then theyre not really fun to listen to. Do any of you know someone who is really good at telling stories? Whats it like when they tell you a story? (Their face gets animated, they use different volumes, they emphasize certain key words.) And then you might know people who are horrible story tellers. I am one of those people. When I tell a story, sometimes I start talking before I even know what the point of my story is. Then everyone ends up confused and bored. Thats what music without good phrasing is like. Its like a horrible story that you wish would end but seems like it never will. So what we need to do is find the point to our musical story. Well call this point a Point of Arrival, or POA. And every POA that we have, we draw a heart around it, because this note just gets a little bit more love than all of the rest of the notes in the phrase. Turn to the first page of Hes Gone Away. Well look at the first phrase, so the beginning up to while. If you had to pick one of these words to be our POA, which would it be? Allow for student response. Try out some different suggestions. Suggest adding a motion to show the POA and its emphasis. Yesterday we worked on dynamics. Do you notice that doing the dynamics that we wrote in yesterday kind of leads us to a specific phrasing, or a specific phrasing? So following the dynamics that we wrote in, and that Im conducting for you, I think the best POA for this phrase would be for in measure 6. Lets try that. Perform first phrase with for as POA. Correct if necessary. Now I want you all to think about what words would make good POAs in each phrase. Listen carefully. If youre a sop 1, youll do the phrase Oh who will.. to glove my hand. Sop 2, and who will kiss to he is gone. Altos, rest of the page. Just like yesterday. Write this on the board. Except today, were going to do a think/pair/share. So take a couple seconds to find the POA on your own. After a few seconds, youll share with the rest of your section what you thought the best POA will be. And then after a few seconds or so, well all discuss together. Give a couple minutes to discuss. After this time, bring everybody back to group discussion. Ask what POAs they chose and WHY . Note their suggested POAs. Perform a few. *

Assessment (Formal)

Observe accuracy of execution of phrasing ^

Think/Pair/Share

Est. Time

Process I loved your suggestions for the POAs in this section. Why dont we try these POAs? Provide them with my POAs verbally, and also project them using ELMO. Lets do the entire first section using these POAs. Perform first section with POAs and phrasing prescribed. Great job today!

Assessment (Formal)

Accommodations: For my students with an IEP: My two students with IEPs in this class need to have instructions simplified or paraphrased in order to be successful. In order to accommodate them, I have simplified my instructions throughout the entire lesson. I will also provide instruction for them in multiple ways, such as verbally explaining instructions, and providing instructions in print (writing instructions on the board, projecting visuals onto a screen.) For my exceptional music students: There are opportunities in this lesson for students who have more skill in music to be challenged. They have the opportunity to identify points of arrival in a prescribed section, and lead the others in their section with their reasonings as to why they chose the POA they did. For learners of different modalities: My instruction uses different methods which include different learning modalities. Visual learners will benefit from seeing things written on the board and projected on a screen. Aural learners will benefit from my verbal directions and cues. Kinesthetic learners will benefit from doing motions to show the emphasis of the POAs. Read/Write learners will benefit from writing in POAs in their music.

Lesson Plan #3
Central Focus The central focus of this lesson will be musicality. Illinois State Content Standards 25.A.4: Analyze and evaluate the effective use of elements, principles and expressive qualities in a composition/performance in dance, drama, music and visual arts. 26B: Apply skills and knowledge necessary to create and perform in one or more of the arts.

27.B.5: Analyze how the arts shape and reflect ideas, issues or themes in a particular culture or historical period.
Specific Objectives By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to: Reflect on connections between Hes Gone Away by Ron Nelson and other related artifacts. Define expressivity and relate it to dynamics, phrasing, and musicality. Perform Hes Gone Away by Ron Nelson with appropriate expressivity. Prior Knowledge required Notes and Rhythms of Hes Gone Away by Ron Nelson. Dynamic markings as discussed in lesson 1. Phrasing as discussed in lesson 2. Definition of musicality as discussed in previous lessons. Academic Language Demands Vocabulary: Expressivity - the act of conveying an thought, idea, or emotion. Language Function: Students will need to interpret the text in the song Hes Gone Away and other related artifacts in order to achieve the central focus of the lesson. Discourse: Students will use discourse to construct and further knowledge of the central focus and lesson objectives. Materials Hes Gone Away by Ron Nelson, pencils, Letter from Sullivan Ballou (abridged) print out for every student, Projector, Soldier Coming Home video on YouTube, Hes Gone Away free response sheets from previous lesson,

Est. Time 8 min.

Process Warm ups Stretching Breathing Hum on Nnn 5-4-3-2-1 Hng-ahhh 5 54321 Who are you? 5 4 3 2 1 Hello I love You goodbye 1 3 5 8 5 3 1 Can someone raise their hand and remind me what weve been working on these past two days? (Dynamics and Phrasing) What big picture do dynamics and phrasing belong to? We talked about this when we first started learning this song. (Musicality) And does anybody remember the definition for musicality? (Sensitivity to music.)

Assessment (Formal)

Informal questioning*

Est. Time 3

Process Great. Show me how well you can apply what youve learned about musicality to this run through of the song. Run through song once all the way through without stopping. * What did you think of that performance? Allow for student responses. I have a question for you. Why do people make music? Allow for student responses. And what is the biggest difference between musicians who play instruments and musicians who sing? Allow a few students to answer. They should answer Singers use words. If they dont respond in this way, lead them to this response. We get to use words to tell a story, which is so special. But in order to really do this story justice, we have to sing much, much more than the words and notes and rhythms and other stuff written on the page. In order for our musical story to be really effective, we have to know the story behind it. So now that we know this song, what would you say its about? Allow for student responses. Discussion should eventually lead to a soldier leaving for the Civil War. If not, lead the discussion this way. I know none of us were alive during the Civil War, so I wanted you to feel a little bit more of a connection to that time. Nowadays, if you have a loved one in the military, its pretty easy to get in touch with them. Back during the Civil War, that was not the case. You had to send letters, and maybe they would never make it to the person you were sending them to. That was the case with this letter that were about to read. It was written by a man named Sullivan Ballou to his wife. Pass out print out of letter. Call on students to read paragraph by paragraph. Stop after every paragraph to have students interpret the text. What do you think it was like for Sarah Ballou while Sullivan was out to war? Allow for student response. I want you to take a second to collect your thoughts. Then we will sing through the first section of this song, and I want you to sing it as if you were Sarah Ballou and you didnt know if your husband was ever going to come back. Perform section once through. Now, Sullivan Ballou did die in the Civil War, unfortunately. His story did not have that happy ending. But I wanted to show you a couple happy endings, just so we didnt end class on a very sad note. Were going to watch this video of a Soldier surprising his wife with his return. And I was we do, I want you to put yourself in that wifes shoes. How do you think the days before their reunion must have felt? Play video.

Assessment (Formal)

Est. Time 3

Process Now, taking those emotions, I want you to perform the second half of this song, as if you were the woman in that video. How must it have felt for her? How would she sing this? Perform section once through. Do you remember the very first day we learned this song, I had you write a short response to the question, What does Hes Gone Away mean to you? Im going to pass back the responses that I received. Take a few seconds to read what you wrote and reconnect to the way you felt when you first read the words Hes Gone Away. If you dont have a response for whatever reason, I want you to try and remember how you felt when you first saw the prompt. And when we sing this song again, I want you to sing it as if you wrote this song, I want you to connect this to the experience you wrote about. Pass back Hes Gone Away responses. Allow 30 seconds for students to quietly read or reflect. After this time, perform song all the way through. How did that time feel? What was different? What did you like? Allow for student responses. I want to thank you for being creative and courageous today. Its not easy to open up like that, but your hard work really paid off. Excellent work. Now, over the weekend I have a short assignment for you. Introduce assignment.

Assessment (Formal)

Hes Gone Away short essay assignment

Accommodations: For my students with an IEP: My two students with IEPs in this class need to have instructions simplified or paraphrased in order to be successful. In order to accommodate them, I have simplified my instructions throughout the entire lesson. I will also provide instruction for them in multiple ways, such as verbally explaining instructions, providing written prompts, and also using verbal cues to increase comprehension. For learners of different modalities: My instruction uses different methods which include different learning modalities. In this lesson in particular, there are many opportunities to experience various artifacts which enhance musicality. Visual learners will benefit from seeing the video. Aural and read/write learners will benefit from hearing and seeing the letter. All students will benefit from experiencing the situations secondhand.